33 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
33 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
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TREASON
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by Marcus Tullius CICERO
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(106-43 B.C. * Roman statesman, orator, & philosopher)
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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious.
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But it cannot survive treason from within.
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An enemy at its gate is less formidable,
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for he is known and carries his banners openly.
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But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely,
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his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys,
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heard in the very halls of government itself.
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For the traitor appears no traitor;
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he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims,
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and he wears their face and their garments,
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and he appeals to the baseness that lies
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deep in the hearts of all men.
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He rots the soul of a nation;
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he works secretly and unknown in the night
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to undermine the pillars of a city;
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he infects the body politic
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so that it can no longer resist.
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A murderer is less to be feared.
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